Oct 10, 2014 3 min read

Jeff Havelka’s stay as varsity wrestling coach lasted one season.

Havelka, who took the job last year when Bill Sutton resigned as coach, decided to resign two weeks ago so he could join the staff of Ron Headlee at Waynesburg University. His letter of resignation will be accepted at Monday’s school board meeting.

“It was a huge surprise,’ said Chartiers-Houston athletic director Kurt Kesneck, “but it’s nice that he gets to chase his dream. He always had aspirations to coach college wrestling, and he got that opportunity.”

Havelka said the decision was extraordinary difficult, and it took some time for him to make it.

“It’s a great place to teach and a great place to work,” he said. “The administration is great. So were the teachers and it’s a great place to wrestle. It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision.”

The 28-year-old Havelka said it was always his goal to coach college wrestling and the opportunities to do so are scarce.

“Ever since I was (wrestling) in college and then a (graduate assistant), it became something I definitely wanted to do,” he said. “Coach Headlee contacted me a couple weeks ago and asked me if I had an interest. When you have the opportunity to go back and work with a guy like Coach Headlee, you can’t pass it up.”

Havelka, whose father Terry is the athletic director, football coach and wrestling coach at Burgettstown High School, replaces John Yates at Waynesburg. Yates, who coached with Headlee for the past 14 years, is going to be a volunteer assistant.

“Jeff was our grad assistant a few years ago, and he did a super job,” said Headlee. “He was one of the first ones I would want to offer the job to. He’s been through the system.”

Havelka guided Chartiers-Houston to a 7-10 record last season, and the Bucs qualified for the WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament. After a 37-34 win over Derry Area in the first round, the Bucs lost to Burgettstown, 42-26.

“We learned about this two weeks ago,” Kesneck said. “We’ll post it for 10 days.”

Garrett Johnston was Havelka’s assistant and could be a candidate for the position. Johnston is handling the offseason activities.

“Jeff wanted to get back into college coaching,” said Headlee. “His coaching style is a lot like ours. Everyone needs a good assistant coach.”

Havelka competed at University of Findlay in Ohio for five seasons. He graduated from Burgettstown High School, where he wrestled for four years for his father.

Havelka was hired to replace Sutton, who retired following 10 seasons with the Bucs.